Lauri Markkanen should be ready to roll for Cavs in 2022-23

This 2021-22 season was one where there were ups and downs for Lauri Markkanen. It was his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, after he was acquired via sign-and-trade last offseason from the Chicago Bulls. That deal was for four years and $67.5 million, with that only guaranteed for $6 million in the last season of the contract.

It took some time for Markkanen to get used to his new Cavaliers teammates, and him playing at the 3 a bunch, at least offensively, and playing often with two other bigs in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen was an adjustment for Markkanen. He did eventually start to get going a bit, and then missed roughly two weeks in November because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and following that had highs and lows in months to follow.

Markkanen did seem to turn a corner in January, but unfortunately would then miss roughly a month through the All-Star break with an ankle sprain. He did come back post-All-Star break and was a bright spot for a Cleveland team that underwhelmed as a group in the closing stretch of the season, albeit largely due to injuries, in particular, to Jarrett Allen (fractured finger).

Overall, for Markkanen, he had 14.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest in his first year with the Cavaliers, and connected on 2.2 of his 6.2 three-point attempts per game, a 35.8 percent clip.

There were again inconsistencies for Markkanen, and he had ups and downs with the Bulls in his years before that, to some degree, because of injuries, as was partly the case with Cleveland this season. He seemingly settled in more as the season wore on, though, and I believe that we’ll see Markkanen primed for success from the outset next year with the Cavaliers.

Markkanen should be ready to roll with the Cavs in 2022-23.

The Cavs lost in their play-in game for the #8 seed on Friday night versus the Atlanta Hawks because of a poor second half, and didn’t close the regular season how they wanted to, either, as the team was 9-15 post-All-Star break.

That being said, Markkanen was again, a positive in the season’s closing stretch for Cleveland, along with Darius Garland, and Lamar Stevens as a rotational contributor, for example. Markkanen was a positive in that Cavs L to the Hawks in the play-in on Friday, too, with 26 points and he was 6-of-12 from three-point land.

Also, in Markkanen’s case, in post-All-Star break play he had 16.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 23 contests, after he missed 11 games leading into the All-Star break due to the aforementioned ankle sprain. In that span, he knocked down 38.1 percent of his three-point attempts, and his true shooting rate was 62.0 percent.

Granted, some of the hotter splits from Markkanen to close the season could’ve resulted from him playing more with only one true big often in Evan Mobley with Jarrett Allen sidelined, but even prior to that, he seemed to getting much more comfortable with the Cavaliers. There were other stretches earlier in the season, such as in January before Lauri’s injury, and in earlier season after he returned from his health and safety protocols absence.

Markkanen improved his timing as a cutter in settled offense and in transition as the season wore on as well, and his chemistry got better with a number of other Cavs with more experience with the Wine and Gold, in general, as well. There were some pull-ups from him also, which was nice to see.

And at least in regards to his team defense, Markkanen was decent for Cleveland on the defensive end in his first season, realistically, and his 7-foot frame was meaningful in plenty of games this season, even with some limitations on-ball.

So, anyway, while he needs to build on this, and we’ll still have to see how Markkanen continues on with the Cavaliers moving forward, I do think that the forward, who will turn 25 in May, could start off next season very well, and we’ll see him ready to roll then.

It’ll be interesting to see how he looks in his second season with the Cavs, no matter what role he’s in from here, and how much usage there is for him.